Detent apparatus



June 21, 1966 J. GUTTMAN ETAL DETENT APPARATUS 2 Sheecs-Sheerl l Filed Jan. 14, 1965 INVENTORS Il'uLws GuTrmnN NJATKIN ToNeS 0'). SHAPnRo CLALAQ.. ,ww.

THEoooRE CoYlTrol Knob A'rromvey Ccm-Eid 57 Kheb June 2l, 1966 J. GUTTMAN ETAL DETENT APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 14, 1963 INVENTORS JuLlus GUTFMAN THEQDORE WAT\ \N tYoNas m. SHANRO Clgm. E

ATTQRNEY 3,256,752 DETENT APPARATUS Julius Guttman, White Plains, N.Y., and Theodore Watkn and Jonas M. Shapiro, Stamford, Conn., assignors to Manson Laboratories, Inc.

Filed Jan. 14, 1963, Ser. No. 251,404 2 Claims. (Cl. 74813) The present invention relates to a detent apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to detent appartus which may be utilized in a gear box arrangement for a synthesizer circuit which produces highly stable output frequencies of 2 to 34 megacycles per second.

The present applica-tion is a continuation-impart application of pending application Serial No. 844,982, filed October.7, 1959, and entitled 2 to 34 Megacycle Synthesizer Circuit Arrangement, now abandoned.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved detent arrangement.

In order that the present invention may be readily carried into effect, it will now be described with re-ference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. l is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the detent arrangement of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side View, partly in section, of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the knob and cam portion of the detent arrangement of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a front view of an embodiment of a ten kilocycle detent wheel of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a control knob 57 is coaxially aixed to a shaft 317 which is controlled in axial turning or rotary position by a bandswitch detent wheel 31-8 coaxially atiixed thereto. The bands-witch detent wheel 318 has four peripheral notches formed therein at 30 degree intervals from each other. The control knob 57 drives a pinion 3119, coaxially affixed to the shaft 317, through said shaft. rIhe pinion 319 drives a rack 321. That is, 4the degree of axial turning of the pinion 319, which depends upon the notch position of the detent switch 322, determines the position of the rack 321 along a line extending longitudinally from end to end of the rack 32:1 through the cross-sectional center of said rack. The rack 321 is thus moved in the direction of the arrows 32'3 or 32'4 in accordance with turning of the pinion 319 in a clockwise direction 325 or a counterclockwise direction 326, respectively. The rack 321 is suitably supported for motion in the direction of the arrow 323 or 324 by any suitable support means (not shown in the figure).

A control knob 18 is coaxially axed to a shaft 327 which is controlled in axial turning or rotary position by a ten kilocycle detent wheel 3128 coaxially aiiixed thereto. The ten kilocycle detent wheel 328 is illustrated in FIG. 4. The ten kilocycle detent wheel 328 has detent grooves or notches formed in a face 329 thereof for cach category, group or band to be selected in separate concentric circles on said face. The separation and number of detent notches for each band is related to the dividing factor of the band. Thus, in the first concentric circle with the smallest radius, such as, for example, the circle ZZ of FIG. 4, there are 16 detent notches a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, k, m, n, p, r, s, t, u, in a first category or group, which may comprise 16 to 34 megacycle band, for example, at intervals of 221/2 degrees from each other. Of the 16 detent notches, all 16 notches reach the second concentric circle, such as, for example, the circle XX of FIG. 4, having a radius larger than that of the first concentric circle. Of the 16 notches, 8 notches b, d, f, h, m, p, s and u, extend the shortest radial distance from the first concentric circle with the United States Patent O lCe smallest radius to the second concentric circle with the next larger radius.

In a third concentric circle of slightly larger radius than that of the second concentric circle, such as, for example, the circle VV of FIG. 4, there are 8 detent notches a, c, e, g, k, n, r, t in a second category or group, which may comprise, for example, an 8 to 16 megacycle band, at intervals of 45 degrees from each other. This is due to the fact that the detent notches a, c, e, g, k, n, r and t are longer than the detent notches b, d, f, h, m, p, s and u, so that they extend farther from the shaft 327 in radial directions on the face 329 of the detent wheel 328, from the first concentric circle to the third concentric circle with the next larger radius compa-red to the second concentric circle.

Of the 8 detent notches a, c, e, g, k, n, r and t, 4 notches a, e, k and r extend a longer radial distance than the remaining 4 of these notches, from the first concentric circle with the smallest radius tothe fourth concentric circle, such as, for example, the circle YY of FIG. 6, with the next larger radius compared to the third concentric circle.

In the fourth concentric circle of slightly larger radius than that of the third concentric circle, there are 4 detent notches a, e, k, r in a third category or group, which may comprise, for example, a 4 to 8 mega-cycle band, at intervals of Vdegrees from each other.

IOf the 4 detent notches a, e, k and r, 2 notches a and k extend a longer radial distance than the remaining 2 of these notches, from the first concentric circle with the smallest radius to the 'fifth concentric circle, such as, for example, the circle WW of FIG. 4, with the largest rad-ius compared to the first, second, third and fourth circles. In fact, the fifth concentric circle may be equal in radius to that of the detent wheel 328 itself, as indicated by the detent notch a.

yIn the fifth concentric circle of slightly larger radius than that of the fourth concentric circle, there are 2 detent notches a and k, in a fourth category or group, which may comprise, for example, 4a 2 to 4 megacycle band, at 'intervals of 180 degrees from each other.

The ydetent notch k is not shown in FIG. 1 because it is obstructed by the .shaft 327. The detent notch r is not shown in FIG. '-1 ybecause it is obstructed by the rack 321. These notches are'shown in FIG. 4.

A detent plunger or detent switch 332 is carried by the rack 321, so that the pinion 319 moves said detent plunger 332 to a selected position on the face 329 of the ten kilocycle detent wheel 3218 under the control of the control 57.

If the control knob 18 is turned away from the front panel (not shown), the ten kilocycle detent wheel 328 is cammed away from the detent plunger 332 by a suitable arrangement (FIG-S. 2 and 3) and the shaft 327 may be rapidly turned without detent positioning since there is no longer a detent action or engagement between the detent plunger 332 and the ten kilocycle detent wheel 328. The ten kilocycle control knob 18 has two eccentrics 18A and 18B, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each of which functions to push the ten kilocycle detent wheel 328 away from the detent plunger 332 when the knob 18 is raised away from a front panel (not shown) in the direction of arrow 18C of FIG. 2. This avoids wear on the detent plunger 332 or on the detent wheel 328 during high speed rotation of the control knob 18 since the ten kilocycle detent wheel 328 and the detent plunger 332 are disengaged from each other. The shaft 327 has no relative rotary motion with the detent wheel 328, only relative axial motion. When the control knob 18 is turned toward the front panel 90 degrees in a direction opposite that of the arrow 18C, the detent wheel 328 is moved 3 axially into contact with the detent plunger 332, thereby permitting final positioning.

In FIG. 2, the axifally'extending key arrangement 18D prevents rotation of the detent wheel 328 on the shaft 327, but permits axial motion. The spring 18E urges the detent wheel 328 in the direction of arrow ISF into contact with the detent plunger 332. The detent Wheel 328 is urged out of contact with the detent plunger 332, by the cams 18A and 18B (F-IG. 3), in the direction of arrow 18G.

The tuning control knob 18 may be controlled in 2, 4, 8 or 16 increments, detents or portions per revolution due to the ten kilocycle detent wheel 328 and the detent notches a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, k, m, n, p, r, s, z and n formed therein and the selection of a group of such detent notches by the turning of the control knob 57. The control knob 57 is turned to one of the four detent positions of the bandswitch detent wheel 318 to position the rack 321 so that its detent plunger 332 is radially positioned to cooperate with the detent notches of the selected group. The number of detent notches in the selected group determines the detents or portions per revolution and may be utilized to control the relation of a produced frequency to the turns or fractions of turns of the tuning control 18.

While the invention has been described by means of a specific example and in a specific embodiment, we do not wish to be limited thereto, for obvious modifications will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim is:

1. A detent arrangement comprising, in combination,

a detent wheel having a substantially planar face having a central axis and a plurality of groups of radially extending detent notches formedtherein, all the detent notches formed in said detent wheel belonging to a first of said groups and all the detent notches of each of said groups belonging to all the succeeding groups, each of said groups of detent notches including detent notches of a radial length diierent from the radial length of detent notches 4of the others of said groups, each of said notches being asymmetrical about a radius of said wheel;

detent plunger means; and

mounting means mounting said detent plunger means 4for movement in a radial direction along the face of said detent wheel so that at a minimum radial distance from the .central axis of said detent wheel said detent plunger means is in position to engage all the detent notches of a first of said groups and at successively greater radial distances 'from the central axis of said detent wheel said detent plunger means is in position to engage all the detent notches of successive corresponding groups of detent notches.

2. A detent arrangement comprising, in combination,

a shaft;

a detent wheel coaxially slidably mounted on said shaft, said detent wheel having a substantially planar face having a plurality of spaced radially extending detent notches of diierent radial lengths formed therein, each of said notches being symmetrical about a radius of said wheel, said detent wheel having an axially extending portion;

detent plunger means;

mounting means mounting said detent plunger means for movement in a radial direction along and in operative proximity with the face of said detent wheel;

a knob transversely mounted on said shaft in proximity with the axially extending portion of said detent wheel; and

cam means adapted to abut the axially extending portion of said detent wheel and actuated by said knob to move said detent wheel in the axial dilrection of said shaft so that the f-ace of said detent wheel is moved out of operative proximity with said detent plunger means.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 735,077 8/ 1903 Everest 200-166 1,688,539 10/1928 Fisher 23S- T77 2,309,015 1/1943 Royer 235 -61 3,013,231 12/1-961 Meadows et al. 200-166 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,096,716 1/ 1961 Germany.

534,126 2/ 1941 Great Britain.

220,250 v'10/ 1942 Switzerland.

BROUGHTON G. DURHAM, Primary Examiner.

D. P. ROONEY, JONATHAN A. MARSHALL,

Assistant Examiners. 

1. A DETENT ARRANGEMENT COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A DETENT WHEEL HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR FACE HAVING A CENTRAL AXIS AND A PLURALITY OF GROUPS OF RADIALLY EXTENDING DETENT NOTCHES FORMED THEREIN, ALL THE DETENT NOTCHES FORMED IN SAID DETENT WHEEL BELONGING TO THE FIRST OF SAID GROUPS AN ALL THE DETENT NOTCHES OF EACH OF SAID GROUPS BELONGING TO ALL THE SUCCEEDING GROUPS, EACH OF SAID GROUPS OF DETENT NOTCHES INCLUDING DETENT NOTCHES OF A RADIAL LENGTH DIFFERENT FROM THE RADIAL LENGTH OF DETENT NOTCHES OF THE NOTCHES OF SAID GROUPS, EACH OF SAID NOTCHES BEING ASYMMETRICAL ABOUT A RADIUS OF SAID WHEEL; DETENT PLUNGER MEANS; AND MOUNTING MEANS MOUNTING SAID DETENT PLUNGER MEANS FOR MOVEMENT IN A RADIAL DIRECTION ALONG THE FACE OF SAID DETENT WHEEL SO THAT AT A MIMIMUM RADIAL DISTANCE FROM THE CENTRAL AXIS OF SAID DETENT WHEEL SAID DETENT PLUNGER MEANS IS IN POSITION TO ENGAGE 